Meet the Crunchy Lettuce family
Uniting the best of Iceberg and Cos
Iceberg and Cos are popular lettuce types, enjoying high consumption levels globally. However, the ever-innovative demands of food retailers and processing companies inspired our breeding team to blend the best traits of both into a single lettuce, introducing consumers to a brand new product: Crunchy Lettuce. Rijk Zwaan provides comprehensive support and guidance to growers and customers in production, processing, and marketing.
Discover the benefits of Crunchy Lettuce
Serving possibilities beyond the ordinary
Explore endless serving possibilities; the leaves stay crisp even when combined with warm ingredients, making them perfect as edible spoons for tapas, as a burger garnish, or as a wrap. Of course, Crunchy Lettuce serves as the perfect ingredient for Caesar salads.
Suitable for hydroponics and mechanical harvest
With Crunchy Lettuce, growers can set themselves apart from other lettuce varieties. The oval shape is well-suited for mechanical harvesting of whole heads or single leaves. Additionally, Crunchy Lettuce serves as the ideal Iceberg alternative for hydroponics.
Cost Savings in Fresh Cut Produce Processing
The varieties can be mechanically harvested and transported to the factory as single leaves or whole heads, leading to significant cost savings in terms of manual labour.
Snack Lettuce
The crunchiest base for your snacks
These Mini Crunchy Lettuce varieties have some unique characteristics such as a distinctive spoon shape, fresh crunchy leaves and an excellent flavour, which is ideal for all types of fillings. These conveniently sized baby crunchies can be marketed under the Snack and Wrap label and are an ideal solution for retail and food service. This snack-sized edible spoon lettuce adds excitement to retail shelves inspiring consumers to enjoy lettuce in other tasty ways and moments, such as tapas and breadless wraps. Maxi Crunchy Lettuce
Elevating size, nutrition, and sustainability in the lettuce landscape
Crunchy Lettuce is available in larger sizes, positioned either as a premium and more nutritious alternative to iceberg or as a crunchier Romaine Lettuce. Either way, it enhances the entire lettuce category with its attractive, fresh green appearance. Its extended shelf life eliminates the need for plastic and offers countless serving possibilities for food service. With its robust texture, Crunchy Lettuce stays firm on a juicy burger and remains crisp in a fresh salad! Crunchita™ lettuce is one of our iconic Woolworths products
Thrilled... that was how Mari de la Buscagne, Produce Technologist Leafy Crops at Woolworths South Africa, felt when she was first introduced to the Rijk Zwaan Crunchy Lettuce varieties in 2013. “This remarkable natural cross between a cos and a crisp lettuce is bright green, has a unique visual appearance and an appealing taste,” she says. Snack Lettuce: a revolutionary concept
Snack Lettuce is an ideal solution for retail and food service. This snack-sized lettuce is adding excitement to retail shelves and inspires consumers to enjoy lettuce in other tasty ways and moments. We spoke about this revolutionary lettuce concept with Miguel Ángel Jiménez Bosque, CEO at our proud partner JimboFresh. News about Crunchy lettuce
Rijk Zwaan opens new trial centre for open-field crops
Rijk Zwaan’s new Trial Centre Open Field in the Netherlands, is now officially open. This state-of-the-art facility will enable the fruit and vegetable breeding company to further strengthen both its practical research and its presentation of open-field varieties to customers and value chain partners from around the world.
Global Melon & Watermelon event Cartagena
Professionals from across the melon and watermelon value chain will once again gather at our Experimentation and Development Centre (CED) La Palma in Cartagena, Spain, for the Global Melon & Watermelon Event. The event will include a local week from 22 to 26 June and an international week from 30 June to 2 July.
Px Defense in Galuna™: “We succeeded in combining vigour, taste and quality”
At the Global Melon & Watermelon Event in Spain, Rijk Zwaan is presenting two new Galuna™ melon varieties that are also resistant against races 6 and 7 of Podosphaera xanthii (Px). These are exciting times for Breeder Alba Garcia Martinez and her team, who have been intensively involved with the varieties over the past years: “We are very eager to hear growers’ reactions. I believe we have succeeded in selecting Galia melon varieties that combine resistance against powdery mildew with vigour while also meeting our high Galuna standards for taste and quality.” In this Q&A, she answers five questions about the journey so far and the path ahead.